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" When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Me
Book
Eyes
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" The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Only
Great
Novel
" Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less. "
W. Somerset Maugham
More
People
World
" You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Say
Reputation
Good
" Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Apt
Defect
Dull
" The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Soul
Art
Artist
" It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Suffering
Character
Happiness
" No egoism is so insufferable as that of the Christian with regard to his soul. "
W. Somerset Maugham
His
Christian
Regard
" If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Want
You
Food
" Money is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Puppets
String
Which
" Only a mediocre person is always at his best. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Person
Only
Always
" I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation. "
W. Somerset Maugham
I Can
Life
Comfortable
" Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Powerful
Belief
Exercise
" The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Unity
Beautiful
Variety
" Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Men
Changing
Weak
" It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Thought
Day
Pity
" I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Myself
Short
Life
" The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Sixties
Trouble
Writers
" Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Effect
Excess
Habit
" What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Now
Literature
Life
" Tradition is a guide and not a jailer. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Guide
Jailer
Tradition
" The world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Comfortable
Thought
Anger
" It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Take
Than
Your
" The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Poet
Aside
Only
" It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Those
Happy
Who
" Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Advice
Death
Nothing
" If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news? "
W. Somerset Maugham
You
Good
Change
" Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Youth
Age
Ready
" Tolerance is another word for indifference. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Indifference
Tolerance
Another
" It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. "
W. Somerset Maugham
Best
You
Anything
" Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. "
W. Somerset Maugham
See
Land
Day